Moules marinière are the middle course of Mayet Cristobal’s menu in The Restaurant for
the Getty’s “Paris: Life & Luxury in the 18th Century,” exhibition.
and he knows well the particular
challenges of promoting foodservice
and museum simultaneously.
DO THE RESEARCH
• Involve all levels of kitchen and
front-of-the-house staff to generate
excitement for new menu items.
• Servers and other wait staff should
be well-versed on the connection
between menu items and the event/
presentation/exhibition so that they
can answer customers’ questions.
• In museums, draw on archived menus,
historical documents and art works
illustrating food.
• Plan well in advance to ensure a
steady, economical source for special
menu ingredients.
• Partner with the venue when launching
new menus to generate publicity.
• Look for fun, whimsical connections
when creating menus. These pairings
are about serving good food, but also
about making customers smile.
• Keep food costs in line with those of
items on the regular menu.
He says gaining a good understanding of
the exhibition is vital, and he encourages
those on the foodservice side to read
up on it and the period it covers well in
advance of the opening. And, Dodge
talks to curators to get further insight
and help get the creative juices flowing.
“Then, after we have a good concept of
the show, we come together in an open-forum-style meeting to put together what
we think is realistic as far as production
capability is concerned,” he says.
and a rich dessert: Châteaubriand with a
creamy blue cheese sauce and morels;
moules marinière; and pets-de-nonne,
deep-fried cream puffs with an orange
blossom honey drizzle. The only thing
not French was the wine, some of which
came from Moraga Vineyards, across the
freeway in Bel Air.
manager, a marketing staff person and
the executive chef at the property, plus
representatives from the corporate side,
can quickly and easily make decisions to
implement something new, Brown says.
This gets menu items on plates and in
front of customers in a timely fashion and
keeps the operation fresh and current.
For the Getty’s “Paris: Life & Luxury in
the 18th Century,” executive chef Mayet
Cristobal was looking for authenticity
while taking into account the tastes of a
modern, more health-conscious audience.
As the dining habits of the 18th century
Parisian elite dictated, the menu featured
a rich main dish, a lighter middle course
ANTHONY CARO TO BASEBALL
Ed Brown, senior vice president of
food and beverage at New York-based
Restaurant Associates, an operating
company of Compass Group North
America, Charlotte, N.C., says, “As the
foodservice provider, we partner with
our client to help drive the mission and
message, and in so doing, we increase
the whole experience of a guest, which
counts for a lot in any hospitality venue.”
Restaurant Associates is relatively small
on the creative side, so menus ideas can
be batted around and put into practice
quickly. A group that includes a general
Such was the case at Roof Garden Café
and Martini Bar at New York’s Metropolitan
Museum of Art, where a special cocktail
menu celebrates an exhibition of Anthony
Caro’s sculptures. The cocktails mimic the
bright colors found in the artist’s work and the
sunset views customers enjoy from the Roof
Garden, where the sculptures are installed.
New York’s American Museum of
Natural History, a family friendly
